Andy Stern's War on Terror: NUHW insurgents inflict more damage on SEIU

Andy Stern may be gone, but his California Civil War still rages on and, in Saturday's Washington Post, Andy used an interesting analogy metaphor comparing his union battles to the War on Terror:

"It's a tragedy in terms of how the money was spent, but a necessity in terms of preserving the organization's integrity," he said. "I don't want to analogize this, but there is not enough money you can spend in America to protect us from terrorists. And you know, sometimes you have to spend money to protect the integrity of the institution from its own version of self-righteousness and terrorism."

To compare fellow unionists to terrorists is an interesting choice of terminology.  Especially since the latest battle between the SEIU and its former local (now known as the National Union of Healthcare Workers), the purple behemoth lost another election to the union "insurgency":

Caregivers at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital have voted to leave Service Employees International Union and join the rival National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Results, announced Monday after three weeks of voting by mail, shows 408 votes for the health care union, 242 votes for SEIU, and 13 votes for no union. The local union represents more than 830 workers, including respiratory care practitioners, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, clerical workers and others.

[snip]

The election for NUHW "is our second-biggest hospital election," said Sadie Crabtree, a spokeswoman for the union. About 2,600 Kaiser Permanente health workers in Southern California have voted to go with the new union. NUHW is working toward an election that would ask 47,000 Kaiser workers throughout the state if they want to change unions. Workers at more than 360 facilities have petitioned to join NUHW in the last 15 months, and most are still waiting for their elections, Crabtree said.

With Stern now gone, it will be interesting to see if the SEIU's new president, Mary Kay Henry, will be able to contain the Iraq NUHW insurgents.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

SEIU's New Burger Queen? Internal Documents Expose Plan to Unionize Fast-Food Industry

If you'd like to see how a union plans to exploit and target workers if the hallucinogencially-named Employee Free Choice Act (aka "card-check") is passed, read this post.

Last weekend, we reported on what appeared to be a new union battle that the SEIU was going to wage by invading the UFCW's turf and attempting to unionize grocery workers.  The foundation of this was an interview new SEIU boss Mary Kay Henry gave to a reporter.  On Tuesday, the SEIU was forced to issue a press release reassuring the UFCW it had no plans on invading (also known as raiding) the food sector.

SEIU fully recognizes the food sector as a core industry of sister union United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than a million supermarket workers.

Well, it turns out that the SEIU's "correction" (see above) may not be entirely accurate.

Internal SEIU documents have exposed a December 2009 plan hatched to unionize the nation's fast food workers.  The SEIU plan details how the purple behemoth plans on targeting fast-food chains in Los Angeles first, the using L.A. and an "east coast" city as a spring board into other cities.

The SEIU's plan is based on a labor landscape that is post Employee Free Choice Act, but its strategies demonstrate how the SEIU plans to use EFCA to unionize an almost-entirely union-free industry.  While there is much to comment on about the SEIU plan and how a union targets workers within an industry (see highlighted text), we're just going to show you the plan itself.

In its plan, the SEIU states:

Our initial probing in this industry has taken place in the Los Angeles metro area.  Los Angeles County has over 60,000 fast food workers in just the top ten chains.  When we mapped out the restaurants of the major chains, we saw that they encompass large groupings of low income tracts.  While just over 20,000 workers are employed in the top 10 chains in Fast Food in LA, we have broke [sic] down 75% of the geography into 4 Clusters.  This encompasses just over 15,000 of the 20,000 workers.

The SEIU's One-year goal:

Organize 15,000 food service workers in LA County and thousands of additional workers in an east coast market within the first 6 months, and begin raising the standards for these workers.

The SEIU lays out its strategy, as follow:

• Initiate a focused experiment in one or two metro areas to test the organizing theory and bring resources to bear on a limited geographical target.
• Choose metro areas with a favorable local political environment and workforce composition (Los Angeles and an east coast market)
• Target 7-10 of the largest chains to keep bargaining manageable and map out geographic clusters where field work can be concentrated.
• Build broad-based support for targeted workers via extensive community outreach and organizing and political work with prominent local elected officials
• While staying focused on the 7-120 chains, bring workers together across companies within geographic clusters to build a sense of movement and solidarity.
• Use a living wage as a vehicle to excite, build momentum, build worker lists/ID potential leaders and potentially support collective bargaining.  We believe we will have enough traction with an ordinance to use as a legitimate tool for organizing and potentially as legislation to raise standards.
• Move fast and furious with an army of 200-300 Staff/MOs/VOs/other volunteer organizers and the necessary number of leads to:
• Petition for living wage
• ID leaders 
• Bring workers together within geographies
• Sign authorization cards
• File on dozens of restaurants per week 

While the SEIU's plan was prepared during the reign of Andy Stern and presented to the SEIU's Executive Board, there is no indication to believe that this plan has changed as Mary Kay Henry has committed $4 million to organizing and was part of the Executive Board at the time of this proposal.

You can read the rest of the SEIU plan here (captured just before it was mysteriously 'scrubbed')...

h/t: SternBurgerWithFries.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

 

Reading the Tea Leaves: Anna Burger will be stepping down at the SEIU

Okay.  We're going out on a limb here, but it's not without some solid foundation:  If we're reading the tea leaves correctly, Anna Burger will likely be leaving her post as Secretary-Treasurer of the SEIU.

In less than a month, the (former) Queen of Labor has gone from being the assumed-next-in-line to lead, to being unceremoniously dethroned by a coup led by the union's top generals.

Yesterday, CQ Politics laid out the strongest evidence yet that Andy Stern's "partner" may have reached the end of the rope.

Major changes to the Service Employees International Union’s downtown operations could be under way soon.

In an interview Tuesday, new SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said she is conducting a monthlong review of her top deputies, including Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, Henry’s main opposition in the union’s recent election to replace longtime head Andy Stern. Burger mysteriously dropped out of the race two weeks before the May 8 election.

“She and I have begun discussions and are committed to reaching an agreement by the end of May. ... Every officer is now in a review process about what role they will assume,” Henry said in the interview. “It is the prerogative of the president to reassign responsibilities.”

Reading between the lines, it appears that the new SEIU leader doesn't want or need Anna Burger undermining the union's "new" direction, or stabbing her in the back in trying to re-take the union.

It should be noted, we're not suggesting that Anna will be leaving the SEIU or the labor movement.  For the moment, she is still the head of the failed Change to Win federation and has a seat at the White House dinner task force table.  However, it appears that her power within the SEIU will almost certainly be diminished if when Mary Kay Henry gets her way.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

Told Ya So...SEIU's New President Walks Back Statement on Unionizing Grocery Workers

Either Mary Kay Henry, the new boss of the Union or Purple People Eaters misspoke, or she was taken out of context.  In either case, the SEIU had to issue a press release on Monday, walking back from Queen Mary's Saturday reported statement.

On Saturday, Mary Kay Henry had a conference call with reporters.  Afterward, BusinessWeek reported:

Mary Kay Henry, elected today as president of the Service Employees International Union, pledged to spend $4 million organizing employees in businesses such as banks and supermarkets.

On this, we noted:

Without clarification, it is difficult to know the context in which Henry referenced unionizing supermarkets. If she is intent on unionizing supermarkets through the SEIU, she is clearly stepping on the UFCW's turf.

Monday's press release emphatically denied that the SEIU would be starting a turf war with the UFCW:

SEIU plans to engage in conversations with sister unions throughout the labor movement to discuss our shared interests. However, despite a recent media report, SEIU has no intention of organizing grocery workers. SEIU fully recognizes the food sector as a core industry of sister union United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than a million supermarket workers.

We would have loved to have heard the angry telephone call Joe Hansen (UFCW) made to Queen Mary after seeing the reports.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

BREAKING: SEIU turning its back on AFL-CIO...for now

Mary Kay Henry, the incoming president of the Service Employees International Union is squelching rumors of a re-unification with AFL-CIO, according to Politico.

In an attempt to address the speculation concerning a possible re-unification, Henry sent a letter (in PDF) to her fellow Change to Win 'partners'

In her letter, Henry writes:

SEIU has had no discussion about returning to the AFL-CIO.  The needs of hardworking women and men in this country transcend conversation about the configuration of the labor movement and instead call on us all to work together in the interest workers and their families.


SEIU remains strongly committed to our relationship with our Change to Win partners and we look forward to strengthening those relationships in the weeks and months to come.

So, the SEIU is turning its back on reconciliation for now.  This probably shouldn't surprise too many as Mary Kay Henry hasn't even officially taken office yet.  However, it would seem unlikely that the SEIU will stay out of the AFL-CIO forever.

As the last split in the House of Labor lasted 20 years, we'll give this one a little bit more time.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

For more news and views on today’s unions, go to LaborUnionReport.com.

SEIU's not-yet president is beginning to sound very...presidential

On Monday, outgoing-SEIU chief Andy Stern tried to put the brakes on the blogosphere's chatter over Stern's hand-picked successor, Anna Burger, losing her presidential bid to the relatively-obscure SEIU EVP Mary Kay Henry.

Yet, despite the fact that he is trying to quell the rumor fact that the Queen of Labor has unofficially lost, Andy Stern's unofficial successor, the not-yet-named next SEIU president, Mary Kay Henry is certainly moving as though she is the winner.

According to Politico's Ben Smith (the dude who broke the Henry victory story), Ms. Henry released a memo on Monday to her fellow SEIU leaders sounding very presidential and as though the contest is over.

For the past few days, I’ve been reaching out to as many of you as possible to hear your views on what makes our union great and ideas about how to make it even better. I hope speak to every single one of you, and answer any questions you may have, before the upcoming vote of the International Executive Board.


[snip]


In the coming months, our first priority will be to engage SEIU leaders at every level and across divisions in a dialogue about our goals for the future and how best to achieve them. I am firmly committed to creating the space for an open and honest debate that will lead to shared decision-making and ownership.


It’s a dialogue that I hope each and every one of you will participate in fully – no matter who you chose to support as the next president of SEIU – because we will need the benefit of everyone’s experience and insights to meet the challenge of moving forward without Andy at the helm. Because our varying opinions and points of view will enhance our debate about the future direction of our union. And because it is in the best interests of our members to bring about a smooth, seamless, and, above all, unified transition to this new chapter in the rich and proud history of SEIU.

You can download Mary Kay Henry's acceptance speech memo here (in PDF).
__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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Andy Stern on SEIU Replacement: Not so fast...

Despite reports that Mary Kay Henry has been selected as the successor to outgoing SEIU president Andy Stern, the Huffington Post is reporting that Andy himself is saying the selection has not been made:

Officials at the powerful SEIU labor union say that the campaign to find a replacement for departing president Andy Stern remains undecided, despite reports that California nurses leader Mary Kay Henry had secured a majority of the votes.

In an interview Monday morning with the Huffington Post, Stern said that the contest shaping up between Henry and his more natural successor, Change to Win President Anna Burger, has been amicable and constructive. There was not, however, a clear winner yet.

"No votes have been cast," Stern said. "And it has been a pretty, I'd say, healthy conversation. It doesn't look like America's political campaigns, where you spend a lot of time telling people what's wrong with other people as opposed to what's right about them. So I think that we've had as appropriate a process that we can have in a very short period of time that will reach a conclusion in a way that will keep the union unified."

[snip] 

Aides at SEIU didn't dispute that Henry, owing to support of local affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Oregon, and Washington State finds herself in a strong position to take over for Stern. But they quibbled with two aspects of the story line. For starters, the SEIU's 73-member Executive Council has yet to vote on the matter (a vote will likely occur in the middle of the month), meaning that dynamics could change. More importantly, they disputed that notion that Henry would tone down the political focus that was a trademark of Stern's leadership.

It looks as though there are more backroom politics going on.

Developing...

Check back here for more updates.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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The Inside Scoop? Former ACORN Co-Founder Wade Rathke offers his take on SEIU's Purple Palace Coup

Last Friday's stunning Purple Palace Coup at the SEIU (that is the rejection of the Queen of Labor and frequent White House visitor Anna Burger as the next SEIU president) seems to be a story filled with intrigue and back-room politicking among former friends-turned-bitter enemies.

Wade Rathke, (pictured at right) most famous for his role as the co-founder of the now-disgraced Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), is also the "Chief Organizer" for SEIU Local 100 in New Orleans.  On his blog,  Rathke lays the reason for Burger's rejection squarely at Burger's own power-hungry feet.

According to Rathke, the engineer for Burger's defeat may have been SEIU EVP Tom Woodruff.  Woodruff, according to Rathke, had gone 'ballistic' a couple of years ago when Burger tried to do become a multiple-term president of the Change to Win federation by changing its charter rules.

When Woodruff caught wind of this, he went ballistic! This was treachery in his view. A line had been breached even in Tom’s organizing principles. After confronting Anna and demanding that she back off of this amendment and allow leadership change and failing to convince her, the contest then became whether or not Stern would step in and get Anna to do right or not. Woodruff threatened Stern that he would resign if Stern did not honor the original C2W governance provisions and direct Anna to step back from this power grab. Caught in the crossfire between Anna, his old comrade back to his earliest days in Pennsylvania and Tom Woodruff, who had been the architect of much of Andy’s vaunted organizing successes, Stern backed Burger effectively calling Woodruff’s bluff. My buddies in the secretarial pool described the atmosphere as icy on the [SEIU's eighth] floor with weeks going by and top leaders clearly not speaking

Anna should have known then that if Tom stayed she now had a mortal enemy. With this leadership shift, Woodruff undoubtedly had been organizing an “anybody but Anna” coalition for the last two years as well. He also knows something that even the most disciplined of unions sometimes forget: unions are political institutions and union leaders are fundamentally all politicians.

Anna Burger, according to Rathke, also had more than her hunger for power that dragged her down: She had Stern fatigue pulling her down as well as deficiencies in style:

Anna Burger is nothing if not able, but she is also prickly to work with, brusque to some, and having been a Stern wannabe would have been trying to out-Stern Stern in molding herself to a chance at president. The big locals would not have felt they owed her much of anything, and would have chafed at the prospect.

[snip]

Anna was efficient, tough, and managerial. She is not charismatic, she always speaks so quickly even from the dais that she can often not be understood, and she did not have a long term, loyal base of followers on her team, despite her years of effective and totally committed service.

While Rathke states that the most able leader would have been 1199's Dennis Rivera, he would have also suffered from the wake of Andy Stern's divisive, top-down style:

Probably the most able leader in SEIU with Stern out of the picture would have been Dennis Rivera, the charismatic and wildly effective 1199 veteran, who played critical, early behind the scenes work in assembling the coalition to win health care reform. At the same time Rivera is person who sucks up all of the air in the room, and there seemed to have been “stern exhaustion.” The big locals created top down over the last decade and more all owed their existence and in most cases, other than [former SEIU-UHW leader Sal] Rosselli, their very positions to Stern often as appointed trustees or beneficiaries of master marriages. On a successor question they were going to get a voice, and they seem to have wanted a voice.

Rathke writes that Mary Kay Henry is a "fantastic choice."  In the end, he says:

She is not divisive, and there is huge pushback within SEIU now, growing over recent years, that some of the bare knuckles moves led by Stern, and often orchestrated by many, including Woodruff leading to C2W, and since then with UNITE-HERE and many internal messes, have heard the brand of the union that should be heralded as one of the few modern labor success stories. May Kay may not always deliver for you, but always makes you happy to see her, always has a hug for you, always a good word and a question about your partners and children. It is hard to believe that she was not the perfect compromise candidate.

This may be Tom’s revenge, but she will not be anyone’s puppet.

This is going to be interesting for all of us who care about labor and may just help unite SEIU again and eventually the entire labor movement.

Read the rest of Rathke's blog here.
__________________

"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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'It's Done'...SEIU's new president is...

In what can only be described as a nationwide repudiation of Andy Stern and his divisiveness within the Service Employees International Union, as well as with other labor unions, a majority of large SEIU locals chose to reject Andy Stern's hand-picked successor, Anna Burger, and elected California SEIU leader Mary Kay Henry as the next SEIU International President.

Key locals in New York, Los Angeles, Oregon, and Washington State committed crucial votes to Henry, choosing her over Stern's protege, Anna Burger, who had promises continuity with Stern's leadership.

"It's done," an SEIU insider emailed moments ago.

Henry benefitted from a sentiment in the union's constituents across the country that Stern had become a divisive, and even exhausting, figure. Final negotiations included ensuring peace between Henry's California nurses' union and a long-term care workers local in the state led by Laphonza Butler. Butler and building workers leader Mike Fishman met in New York today with the leaders of other large undeclared locals, including the largest Chicago SEIU chapter.

With Stern leaving within the next couple of weeks and Anna Burger's future uncertain, the politically powerful SEIU falls into the hands of a relatively unknown (outside of the SEIU) labor leader.  Yet with Stern and Burger presumably still holding keys to the White House (for now), the change must be concerning for President Obama and the Democrats.

Meanwhile, with his competition all but gone, the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka is the new BMOC.

More to come as the official congratulatory statements come out...
_________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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Dealing a blow to Andy Stern's legacy, SEIU locals line up behind Burger challenger

For the last week, we've been posting on the Purple Palace Coup taking place within the walls of the SEIU.

New York's 1199 to Back Burger Challenger

The Politico's Ben Smith is reporting this morning that the Queen of Labor's Anna Burger may lose her bid to take Andy Stern's place at the throne of America's most-politically active union.  Her challenger, Mary Kay Henry, is likely to receive the endorsement of New York's 300,000-member 1199.

If this endorsement comes as expected, and with Mary Kay Henry already securing two out of three large Canadian locals, as well as the expectation of an endorsement of her own California local's executive board, Stern's plans to seat Anna Burger are very much in jeopardy.

Ironically, Politico's Smith notes:

The election is, in traditional political terms, a choice between Burger's promise of continuity and Henry's promise of change, and change appears to have the upper hand.

[snip]

The expected move by 1199's executive board, however, shifts the largest single piece of the SEIU behind Henry, who is expected also to have the support of her own large California union, and has the backing of several other prominent national SEIU leaders, though one giant local, based in Chicago, has yet to weigh in.

Henry "has 1199. That puts her on the brink. Anna still has a very narrow path," said a source close to 1199. [Emphasis added.]

As the next president of the SEIU impacts not only the future of the labor movement, but of the nation as well, we'll keep posting on these developments.

Check back here for updates.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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SEIU's Burger Responds to Purple Palace Coup: It's all about me...

On Monday, we posted on the threat to Anna Burger's throne at the SEIU.  Although Andy Stern has, in fact, endorsed Burger, in a letter penned by four of nine executive vice presidents to the SEIU executive board, the EVPs urged the backing of a fifth EVP, Mary Kay Henry.

In response, the Queen of Labor has penned her own letter (via Politico), asking for the support of the SEIU's International Executive Board and hanging her hat on her seniority and political ties while laying out a vision for transforming the world.

In the long, four-page letter (download in PDF here), Burger walks her fellow SEIU bosses through her 38 years of experience, using "I" as opposed to the collective "we" (this is about her the union, after all).

During my 38 years in SEIU, I’ve held every position but one and now I’m asking for your support… to be the next International President.

Throughout those 38 years I’ve developed, implemented, led organizing, bargaining and political campaigns, stepping up, speaking out, and partnering with all of you.

I launched the national Beverly nursing home organizing campaign in Pa., and have led the Public Divisions growth work. I helped win the rights for child care, home and state workers to organize from Maryland, Maine and Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kansas and North Carolina. I’m proud that we’ve turned our political program into an engine for growth.

I led the negotiations of the merger with 1199  and the restructuring of health care and the Property Services jurisdiction on the East Coast.

I helped to expand SEIU’s political reach by building our member‐to‐member capacity; worked across the labor movement, with progressive and political allies to partner and build the best grass roots political organization the progressive movement has ever seen.

As Secretary Treasurer I’ve worked with all of you to build strong Divisions, but at the same time, making sure that we continued to unite our strength in one powerful Union, with union wide programs and a political field operation second to none.

In SEIU, when issues were complicated, challenging or divisive I was asked to lead, whether  chairing the committees to find a forward or acting as an honest broker, bringing different perspectives together to create a common strategy and a united approach.

In 2008 when our union was being pulled apart by conflict over coordinated bargaining and bargaining for growth, I chaired the cross divisional committee that created unity a framework.

I’ve often been the officer responsible for getting the “job” done, and I am proud of what we've accomplished!

With all these accomplishments, it is shocking that Mary Kay Henry has even the audacity to question Ms. Burger's qualifications to be the purple leader.  This is like a lowly mortal challenging the status of Wonder Woman herself!

The Queen even throws a nod to her departing "partner" Andy Stern...

Andy Stern’s brilliant leadership has challenged us to evaluate, imagine, decide and act. We take risks, try new strategies, galvanize our members, and work with unconventional partners.

For readers unfamiliar with labor union lingo, here's a breakdown of the above SEIU-speak:

• "take risks" = fighting with then-AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney for over a year on the future of the union movement
• "try new strategies" = breaking up the AFL-CIO over an ambitious, but failed agenda
• "galvanize our members" = there's no union that can beat our astro-turfing
• "work with unconventional partners" = Wal-Mart; SEIU's bargain to organize strategy  

Before turning back to the accomplishments under her (and Andy's) watch...

We block bridges, build bridges and cross bridges. People listen to what we say and react to what we do because of the strength of our members.

We are the fastest growing union in North America, the best grass roots political movement in our country, a catalyst for change, and a beacon of hope for workers across the United States,Canada, Puerto Rico and around the world.

What we say and do matters.

But...

...we are challenged as well.

The economy is a mess, our labor movement in decline, divided by ideology ‐ lacking strategy  and a commitment to each other.

Our public sector members and locals are a growing target of attacks as private sector density
slips away.

The right wing machine is well funded, pitting people against each other to block change and  destroy the President ‐‐ and too many Democrats lack the courage to stand up and act.

Our union conflicts with NUHW and external assault from HERE divide our attention and create
additional tension.

We are at a critical moment with the opportunity to transform our countries and rebalance the economy.

But we have immense opportunities as well.

We have the best President of our generation, at a time when SEIU is THE voice for workers and justice.

The next 7 years of an Obama Administration provide us the best opportunity of our lifetime to grow our movement, transform our economy, our nation and our world and we need a plan so we do not squander it.

What's that?!? Seven more years of an Obama administration?

The other things Burger calls for in her "Seven-Point Program"

First, I believe that we have the potential to not only achieve our goal of 500,000 new members
by our 2012 convention, but also to set the stage for massive expansion to set our sights on ways to turnaround the decline of the private/private sector union density.

[snip]

And finally we must face up to the challenge of rebuilding our ability to win traditional NLRB
organizing campaigns, as well as exploring new models for organizing the private/private sector  where millions of workers, not dependent on shrinking public dollars live on poverty wages in SEIU strongholds.

Apparently, Burger realizes that the card-check provision of the job-destroying and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act is a non-starter.

Second, we must challenge our President to be the best that he can be. As we build political power we can partner with the President and agitate and turn up the heat all at the same time. We won’t be a lap dog or a mad dog but we will be a bull dog for change constantly.

Third, our locals are bigger and more powerful than many other unions and have made a huge  difference in changing workers lives, but we face a challenge of speaking with one voice in our geography, industry and across our countries; we must maintain our focus but not silos, and  create synergy to win more together.

Fourth, a union that has the aspirations of ours must be fueled by the energy of members who want to step up and lead our union. We must complete our vision of Justice for all, and achieve our goal of 10% leaders and 50% active.

Fifth, as we expand and grow as a labor movement and a social movement, we are challenged by relationships with other unions, political parties and progressive partners. We must come to grips with how to decide when to act on our own, when we build consensus, and what our choices mean to our ability to win for ordinary people.

We must know when to make peace and when to stand up for what is right. I believe we must take advantage of this moment of change and bring an end to the attacks from HERE and continue to act decisively to make sure NUHW is never a threat to building one Health Care Union

Sixth, immigrants not only want an end to the raids, but also deserve to come out of  the shadows with a pathway to citizenship. We must show the same determination as we did in health care to lead the country to live up to its ideals.

Seventh, I believe that it's time again for SEIU to start the process to decide on our long term future direction. We must be cognizant of both the strength of our union and the dire circumstances of our movement, and prepare to evaluate, imagine, and decide once again how workers in our countries can have their dreams come true, and how the next generation of leaders emerges to take responsibility and build the movement for tomorrow.

So, in other words, Burger's agenda sounds a little bit lot like Stern's.....And, it only took four long pages to spell it out.

And back to being "all about her"...

I am humbled by the opportunity to lead this union. Growing up in Levittown, Pennsylvania I was taught to reach for the stars, but this star was never in my wildest imagination.

I promise you that I will always keep the members in my heart and my head. 

Spoken like a true queen.

Oh, by the way, all you little people can read the whole thing here (in PDF).
__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Follow LaborUnionReport on Twitter.

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Correction: Andy Stern Endorses Anna Burger for SEIU Boss

Following Andy Stern's surprise announcement that he is resigning as President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), we posted our surprise that Stern was not endorsing his likely successor, Anna Burger.  The post was based on a Politico report that stated:

Two women have emerged as the primary candidates, including SEIU's International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, who also oversees the union’s political operation. Stern said he will not make an endorsement. “The one thing I’m glad about is that my replacement will be a woman,” he added.

Now, it turns out, Andy Stern has, in fact, endorsed Anna Burger as his successor. In a memo dated April 16th (download PDF here) to the SEIU International Executive Board, Stern writes:

After a great amount of my own thought, hearing opinions from many of you, and  holding them up against my own criteria—I  recommend that Anna Burger not only temporarily—but then permanently—become the 10th President and first woman to lead our union.

The following day, four out of the nine SEIU Executive Vice Presidents wrote a letter endorsing Burger's challenger, EVP Mary Kay Henry. 

At least Andy's made his choice.  Now, attention turns to the battle royale.

__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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The Future of the SEIU: In internal letter, SEIU generals pick sides in fight for Stern replacement

The fight over who will succeed SEIU's Andy Stern is heating up and come out into the open.

With "retiring" Andy Stern refusing to endorse a successor and Anna Burger not the most popular queen be in the purple house that Andy built, the generals are picking sides.

Four of the nine executive vice presidents have penned a letter backing Mary Kay Henry over the Queen of Labor Anna Burger [bold emphasis in original].  [As Mary Kay Henry is also an EVP, this would give her a majority of EVPs in her camp.]

Although as Politico's Ben Smith notes:

The letter gives Henry's supporters -- if Henry herself is included -- a majority of senior SEIU leaders, though the decisive weight on the executive board is in the hands of the presidents of large super-locals in New York, Chicago, California, and elsewhere, who will cast weighted votes on succession. [Emphasis added.]

While the letter doesn't mention Burger by name, its unwritten words (in yellow highlight) are unmistakably directed at her.

[via Politico]

April 17, 2010

TO: SEIU International Executive Board

FROM: International Executive Vice Presidents Gerry Hudson, Eliseo Medina, Dave Regan, Tom Woodruff

SUBJECT: The Future of SEIU

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The announcement of Andy Stern’s pending retirement has left us all with a great sense of sadness. It’s hard to imagine the future of SEIU without Andy at the helm, inspiring us with his energy, challenging us to be innovative and creative, and leading us with uncommon and unwavering courage.

Andy’s departure will leave a void no one person can fill. We believe that leading our union through the challenges ahead must be a team effort. We will need to draw from the collective talents and strengths of all of our leaders to create the unified vision and strategy to move forward.

That’s why we have come to the conclusion that Mary Kay Henry is the best person to serve as Andy’s successor at this time. 

Mary Kay’s greatest strength is her ability to build consensus and create a highly-effective team around shared goals and responsibilities. Mary Kay is the type of leader who motivates rather than demands, who knows when to delegate and when to take charge, and who always puts the best interests of members first. She respects the diversity of talent, opinions, and causes that have made SEIU the most effective champion of social justice in North America. As president of SEIU, Mary Kay will unite our union — from top to bottom and across divisions — around our mission to build a stronger voice for members and a stronger movement for all workers.

We want you to know that we did not come to this decision lightly. We all want the transition to be as seamless as possible, without conflict or controversies that will distract us from achieving our goals. We are convinced that Mary Kay is the one who can bring us all together during this period of change. Mary Kay is in a position to carry on the best of our union’s traditions, as well as create a bridge to a new generation of leadership and tackle the new challenges we face today.

Many of you have expressed the need to return to organizing as our top priority — to rebuild our organizing capacity and to refocus our political strength on efforts to grow a stronger union and win for workers. We’ve also heard many of you say it’s time to restore our relationships with the rest of the union movement and our progressive allies. We believe Mary Kay is best suited to lead on both of these fronts.

When it comes to organizing, no one has a stronger commitment than Mary Kay. Her organizing experience spans over decades, from making house calls to hospital workers in Michigan to leading a statewide healthcare industry strategy in California. She was on the front lines of the Justice for Janitors campaign, has stood up for public employees in the southwest and across the nation, and has always been a relentless advocate for making organizing our number one priority. She understands that our political strength comes from our two million members, not individual union leaders, and we must use our political influence to build a stronger voice and better life for our members.

At the same time, as the new president of SEIU, Mary Kay would have a unique opportunity to re-establish SEIU as an important partner in the labor and progressive community. She is well-respected both inside and outside of SEIU and has an extraordinary talent for building coalitions and holding them together.

This is a critical moment for our union. We are committed to doing what’s best for SEIU and for all of our members throughout North America. Having worked with Mary Kay for decades, we’re confident that we have made the right decision. If you have questions or want to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to give any one of us a call.

In Solidarity,

Again, while Burger is not mentioned by name, the letter is chalk full of silent disapproval that we're certain the Queen of Labor won't take lightly or lying down.

Stay tuned, as the fur should be flying soon.
__________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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The Generals Who Vie for SEIU’s Top Spot

Two days after Politico broke the story of the resignation of lavender-lapeled lord of labor, SEIU's Andy Stern, and two days before the controversial Stern confirms or denies his intent to leave the purple behemoth he has led, it appears warfare may be breaking out between the generals of Andy Stern's army of purple patrons.

According to the Daily News, the generals lining up their supporters are Andy Stern's right-hand (wo)man, the "Queen of Labor," Anna Burger (whom we wrote about yesterday), SEIU International VP Mary Kay Henry, and the powerful Dennis Rivera, who led the SEIU's war room to get ObamaCare passed.

Dennis Rivera, it should be noted, has not officially thrown his fedora in the ring, according to the Daily News.  However, he is reportedly being urged to run.

Like Stern, Rivera is a charismatic figure known for his innovative methods. Though Rivera spearheaded SEIU's health care reform efforts in Washington, he has shown little appetite in recent years for taking on additional union responsibilities.

"If Dennis wants the job, Anna won't be able to beat him," one 1199 leader said.

Though he is powerful inside and outside the SEIU, like Andy Stern, Rivera is not without his detractors—especially in Puerto Rico, where native-born Rivera (and the SEIU) was accused of attempting to "bust" the existing teachers' union in a back-door deal that would have delivered Puerto Rico's teachers into the arms of the SEIU.

While Rivera initially denied the claims, the SEIU did bring about an election where the Puerto Rican teachers voted down a SEIU-shell union.  Puerto Rico's teachers were so upset with the SEIU, they picketed the SEIU's 2008 convention in Puerto Rico (video here).

In 2009, Rivera became the SEIU's point man for ObamaCare and is the one who helped dispatch hundreds of union activists to last summer's townhall meetings.

Mr. Stern said his union picked Mr. Rivera to oversee its health care campaign because “we needed our General Petraeus to win this war.”

Mr. Rivera commands a much smaller army: 400 union staff members working full time for health care reform, an unusually large lobbying force that is part of the tens of millions of dollars the union has devoted to the campaign. In Maine, Montana, North Dakota and a dozen other states, the union’s activists have held news conferences and written op-ed articles decrying America’s health care system, all to push lawmakers to back reform.

After 18 years running the giant New York local, 1199/S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, Mr. Rivera has grown comfortable in Washington. He now wears suits, after years of wearing a $5 navy blazer he bought at a thrift shop. Soft-spoken, thin and 59 years old, he talks with hints of his native Puerto Rico, where his father was a factory manager.

As Rivera is roughly the same age as allegedly-retiring Stern, he may or may not want to take over the top job at the SEIU. However, as noted above, if he throws his fedora into the ring, it could be his for the taking.

Cat-Fight:  The Queen of Labor or Maven Mary?

Mary Kay Henry (press kit here) is an Executive Vice President of the Union of Purple People Eaters.  As such, she sits one rung lower on the SEIU's ladder than Anna Burger (who is the SEIU's Secretary-Treasurer), and two steps beneath Andy Stern's purple shoes.

As head of the SEIU's health care division, Henry's total compensation was $231,348 (to Burger's $252,724 and Stern's $306,388) in 2009 and she apparently has her eyes set on dethroning the "Queen of Labor."

According to BeyondChron, Stern's departure...

... leaves Anna Burger and Mary Kay Henry scrambling to win majority support on the Executive Board. While Stern groomed Burger as his successor, he leaves office without ensuring a smooth path for her election. And considering that Burger is more closely identified with Stern’s policies, the Executive Board may prefer to give the appearance of charting a new course by selecting Henry as the new President.

Like Rivera and Burger, Henry also has made a few enemies inside and outside the SEIU.  In California, where the SEIU has embroiled itself in a civil war of its own creation, Henry has been heavily involved in both the takeover of the SEIU-UHW local (to the extent she allegedly even called the police on the SEIU's own members), as well as the lawsuit against the SEIU's former local union leaders.

...Mary Kay Henry [above] opened the door to her own cross-examination over the undemocratic trusteeship process, and ended up admitting that the long-term-care workers (who such urgent action had to be taken to protect) are still part of UHW, as the trustees haven't gotten around to complying with the IEB's order yet! Almost every document SEIU tried to submit today was heavily redacted (blacked out), but after the judge agreed with the defendants' lawyers, many redactions ended up getting redacted, with the documents going to the jury whole.

The Queen of Labor Hopes to Hold Her Crown

As "the most powerful woman in the labor movement" Anna Burger is clearly the most visible of the three front runners to Andy Stern's throne.  She, like Stern, is a frequent visitor to the White House (she made 43 visits to Stern's 38 in 2009), as well as well-acquainted with liberal billionaire George Soros.

Burger, already holding the No. 2 spot at the SEIU, is also heavily involved in a couple of other George Soros "ventures." We also noted yesterday:

As co-chair of George Soros' Democracy Alliance (PDF), Burger is also Chair of the failed Change to Win coalition (the group of unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2005) and also sits on President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

As Andy Stern's dance partner in the 2005 break-up of the AFL-CIO, however, her possible filling in where Andy leaves off may not sit well with other union bosses at the AFL-CIO, especially as talks of re-unification are likely to intensify.

In 2005, Stern led the SEIU and other unions, including the Teamsters, out of the AFL-CIO to form a rival coalition, Change to Win. The coalition has struggled, and the AFL-CIO has made overtures to get the rebel unions back in the fold.

While the split was officially about disputes over Big Labor’s direction in the 21st century, many insiders viewed it as a personality clash between Stern and then-AFL-CIO head John Sweeney.

Moreoever, as the Daily News notes:

Stern's second in command and anointed successor - Anna Burger, the union's secretary-treasurer - has never been popular among its top leadership.

Nor, is she popular with the union that represents SEIU's staff:

Union members yesterday picketed an event at which their boss was being honored - accusing her of union-busting and anti-worker policies in connection with layoffs and contract talks at their workplace. Nothing unusual about union pickets - except that the boss, Anna Burger, is one of the nation's top labor leaders, and a key executive in one of its fastest growing unions, the Service Employees International Union, the SEIU. "Anna Burger is a hypocrite..."  [More here.]

While we watch the drama unfold, former SEIU comrade, now turned NUHW arch-nemesis, Sal Roselli summed it up in a press release yesterday:

If the reports are true, and Andy Stern steps down as the head of SEIU, a sad chapter in the once proud union's history will come to an end.

Stern's legacy is that he took control of an organization built by more than a million hardworking janitors, healthcare workers, and public servants, and used their resources primarily to secure his own political power.

[snip]

Instead of helping workers build their own strong organizations, he "restructured" existing unions and put his own loyalists in charge: appointees like Tyrone Freeman who could always be trusted to vote with Stern, even if they couldn't be trusted to keep their hands out of the till.

Instead of uniting workers, Stern split the AFL-CIO in half, only to tear apart his own "Change to Win" federation four years later with an unprecedented raid on Unite Here.

[snip]

Stern's departure would leave SEIU with a crisis of leadership. His likely successors, Mary Kay Henry and Anna Burger, have been tarred by the same ethics scandals and failed policies that marred his tenure. Stern's legacy is that SEIU has become a rogue union, undemocratic, unable to pay its bills, and unwilling to defend its members at the national level.

The challenge for SEIU is not simply to choose a successor, but to reverse years of bad policy, restore accountability, and steer away from the brink.

We'll keep watching and reporting, so stay tuned.

[Emphasis added throughout.]
________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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